Anti-abortion activists hold a rally opposing federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
Advertisement
Breaking news Friday came in the form of a federal court ruling declaring Gov. John Kasich’s health department must consider a grant application from Ohio Planned Parenthood.
Cleveland Right to Life is urging Ohio Department of Health Director Rick Hodges to appeal the decision. By reprioritizing groups that receive funding, Planned Parenthood found itself out of luck, out of money and in the cold after Ohio Republicans exacted laws that left the 100-year old health group left behind.
The wrinkle in this case is that it’s already illegal for Planned Parenthood to spend any money it receives from the state on abortion.
In a statement issued after the ruling, Planned Parenthood declared it a victory for STD prevention.
The law’s financial impact on Planned Parenthood would make it unable to provide certain resources – including education groups for teenagers in at-risk situations – to the state, Barrett said. That money is mostly from the federal government and supports initiatives that provide HIV tests, cancer screenings and other prevention services. We will continue to provide great health care to the people of OH who come to Planned Parenthood everyday and need the services. OH needs a President who will defend access to affordable and comprehensive women’s health care and appoint Supreme Court justices who recognize Roe v. Wade as settled law. “Planned Parenthood has no constitutional right to the hard-earned dollars of taxpayers, millions of whom have deep and abiding objections to the corporation’s pro-abortion business model”.
Planned Parenthood won contracts from the state to provide the services, in many cases as the lowest and best bidder for the programs. Katie Franklin with Ohio Right to Life, which supported the new law, is not happy about the decision. “It is the public policy of the state of OH to prefer childbirth over abortion, and we should be allowed to allocate funds accordingly”. Planned Parenthood sued in May, claiming it was unconstitutional, shortly before it was scheduled to take effect.
The push for the OH legislation, and similar laws across the country, was fueled by secretly recorded videos released last summer that purported to show Planned Parenthood employees in other states selling aborted fetuses and fetal parts. Then on July 26, prosecutors dropped charges against the activists.
“The state of OH will be appealing this ruling”, Lisa Peterson Hackley, a spokeswoman for the OH attorney general Mike DeWine, said.
Advertisement
The ruling today by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of OH protected essential health services for the people of Ohio.
